AARP Is Fighting For Your Health – Because You’re Worth Fighting For

As Congress nears the end of its debate over health care reform, AARP has chosen a side—yours.

You are why we've been fighting for a health reform bill that forbids insurance companies from denying you coverage because of your health or age. –That empowers you and your doctors to make treatment decisions—not the government, not your insurance company. –That makes your care the priority, not insurance-company profits. –That protects Medicare so it's there for today's seniors and for future generations.

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After carefully monitoring the latest developments in Washington and extensively studying the various legislative proposals, AARP's all-volunteer board of directors—made up of working and retired doctors, nurses, business people, and teachers—has decided to endorse the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962/H.R. 3961). This bill delivers on the key priorities we've been fighting for.

What Health Reform Will Mean for You and Your Family
H.R.3962 and H.R. 3961, which will be voted on in the coming days, contain critical components AARP has been fighting for on your behalf—proposals that would improve health care for our members and their families. They include:

• Protecting and strengthening Medicare for today's seniors and for future generations of retirees.
• Ensuring seniors can see the doctor they choose or can find a doctor if they need one, by improving Medicare's payments to doctors. 
• Lowering drug costs for seniors by closing the Medicare Part D "doughnut hole."
• Taking steps to reduce waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiency in the Medicare program.
• Requiring Medicare and insurance companies to provide important preventive services, such as screenings for diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis, free of charge to people who don't have coverage.
• Preventing insurers from denying affordable coverage to anyone because of their age or health.
• Limiting how much your insurance company can make you pay out-of-pocket.
• Providing affordable health insurance options for those who don't have insurance or can't afford it.
• Providing benefits to help seniors and people with disabilities remain in their own homes and communities.

On Your Side
While AARP is pleased to see that H.R. 3962/H.R. 3961 include many of the proposals that are most critical to protecting Medicare and ensuring that Americans age 50+ have access to stable, affordable health care, we know the fight isn't over. That's why we're going to keep working with members of the House and Senate to ensure our priorities are included in a final health care reform bill.

And, as the legislative process moves forward, we've let Congress and the Obama Administration know that we will fight with the strength of our nearly 40 million members against any proposal that would hurt rather than help Medicare or older Americans' access to affordable, quality health care.

We will continue to provide the information you need to decide for yourself what health reform will mean to you. For information on the latest developments, go to www.aarp.org/getthefacts.